For many cancer patients, successful treatment remains elusive. Advanced tumors often are not amenable to surgery and may also be resistant to tolerable doses of radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Irinotecan and oxaliplatin are two new anticancer agents, with different mechanims of action and no new overlapping toxicity, that have demonstrated antitumor activity in patients with usually chemo-resistant solid tumors. Irinotecan is approved as a second-line chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Oxaliplatin is an investigational drug.